Akira class
The Akira-class heavy cruiser was an advanced Federation starship used by Starfleet. Akira-class starships featured prominently in the 2373 Borg attack on Earth and in the Dominion War. An unusual feature of the Akira-class was the shuttlebay arrangements. There were two large shuttlebays in the saucer section, one at the forward edge of the saucer section and one at the rear. :CGI designer Alex Jaeger said that the logic behind this was that departing shuttles would leave out the front bay, and return in the aft bay. Several Akira-class starships were being constructed at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards in 2371. (VOY: "Relativity") The Akira-class was involved in most of the major battles of the Dominion War. In 2374, they saw action during Operation Return and the First Battle of Chin'toka, where at least one ship of the class was destroyed by an orbital weapon platform. In 2375, they were involved in the Second Battle of Chin'toka and the Battle of Cardassia. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels", "Tears of the Prophets", "The Changing Face of Evil", "What You Leave Behind") Several Akira-class ships were often stationed near Deep Space 9. (DS9: "The Magnificent Ferengi", "Afterimage") Ships Commissioned *USS Akira, NCC-62497 *[[USS Rabin|USS Rabin, NCC-63293]] *[[USS Thunderchild|USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549]] See also *[[Unnamed Akira class starships|Unnamed Akira-class starships]] Appendices Appearances * ''Star Trek'' films: ** Star Trek: First Contact * DS9: ** "Call to Arms" ** "Behind the Lines" ** "Favor the Bold" ** "Sacrifice of Angels" ** "Statistical Probabilities" ** "The Magnificent Ferengi" ** "Tears of the Prophets" ** "Afterimage" ** "The Changing Face of Evil" ** "What You Leave Behind" *VOY: ** "Message in a Bottle" ** "Relativity" ** "Endgame" Background The Akira-class was designed by Alex Jaeger of ILM in 1996 for the movie First Contact. The ship currently only exists as a computer model. The Akira is most notable as an inspiration for the design of the ''Enterprise'' (NX-01), the central ship of the fifth Star Trek series, of the same name. It was named after the Japanese animated film Akira, although some have speculated that it would be named after something else named Akira [[canon|in the Star Trek universe]]. The name "Akira" could mean "light," "bright," "morning sun," or over 40 other meanings in Japanese, depending on the characters chosen for its writing. "Akira" and "Hikaru" (which was used for the name of Hikaru Sulu) can be written with the same Japanese character. The Akira-class starship is one of the more controversial ships that has appeared on Star Trek. Originally appearing in First Contact, the design caught the attention of eagle-eyed fans studying the fleeting images of the [[USS Thunderchild|USS Thunderchild]]'s attack on the Borg cube. Despite its impressive appearance, though, some incongruities leave room for heated debate. A design sketch of the USS Akira shows the vessel bearing the registry NCC-2497. The Star Trek: Fact Files just added a 6 to this registry. Technical information on this ship comes from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. While not canon, that work is a Memory Alpha permitted resource. Registry Number The first issue in question is the ship's registry number. The most visible representative of the class, the [[USS Thunderchild|USS Thunderchild]], had a registry of NCC-63549 and a noticeable appearance more in line with later ships like the ''Intrepid''-class and the ''Sovereign''-class. To those fans who believe in chronological assignment of registries, the Thunderchild's low number requires some explanation, since it would put the design somewhere around the time of the ''Nebula''-class and before the ''Galaxy''-class. Armament The second issue is the class's armament. Designer Alex Jaeger stated in a Star Trek: The Magazine interview that he created the Akira as a sort of "carrier/gunship," armed with an astounding 15 photon torpedo launchers: "This was my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier. It has 15 torpedo launchers and two shuttlebays - one in front, with three doors, and one in the back. I really got into it with this one, with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay, and then to return they'd come into the back, because they'd be protected by the rest of the ship." - Alex Jaeger (designer), Star Trek: The Magazine, Issue 2 (July 1999), page 48, "Designing the Akira Class" For many starship buffs, that figure is simply too large to be credible when considered alongside other Starfleet ships. However, the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise was upgraded for the film Star Trek Nemesis to hold twelve torpedo launchers, which gives credence to the fifteen launchers of the Akira-class. Also, a look at the hull and design drawings do show at least 11. (see: Talk page) The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual documents a figure of two photon torpedo launchers, however, although this makes the ship at its length less heavily armed than many ships half its size. Length The third issue is the overall length of the ship. * Star Trek Encyclopedia II: 400-460m * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual: 464.43m * VFX size according to a post (January 20, 1998) in the newsgroup alt.tv.star-trek.ds9 by David Stipes, VFX Supervisor DS9: 860' = 262.13m (Stipes' figure represents the length used when blocking shots in DS9) Apocrypha * The Decipher role-playing games supplement Starships lists several Akira-class starships, including USS Geronimo (NCC-62501), USS Osceola (NCC-62743), USS Black Elk (NCC-62878), USS Nez Perce (NCC-62891), USS Mateo (NCC-63002), USS Red Cloud (NCC-63306), and USS Susquehanna (NCC-63419). * The Activision PC Game Star Trek: Bridge Commander includes the USS Devore (NCC-64088), USS Geronimo (NCC-69302), and USS Kali. * The Activision PC Game Star Trek: Armada includes the USS Jupiter (NCC-71267) and USS Templar. The Jupiter was also a promotional card for the Star Trek card game, where it was listed as being "under the command of Captain Satelk." * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars includes the USS Singh. * Star Trek: Away Team includes the USS Leyte Gulf (NCC-71427). * The [[USS Sentinel|USS Sentinel]] mentioned in DS9: "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" is described as an Akira-class starship that Lt. Commander Sonya Gomez served on during the Dominion War, according to Pocket SCE: "War Stories, Book 1". * The Millennium novel "The Fall of Terok Nor" mentions two Akira-class starships, the USS Bondar and the USS Garneau. *The Akira-class starship USS Gryphon features heavily in the DS9 Relaunch novels. External Links *DITL - a very complete list of specs on the Akira-class, but not all specs are canon * - contains detailed notes and articles on the Akira-class *Pedro's Shiporama - many photos and screenshots of the Akira-class *Star Ship Schematics - schematics of the Akira-class *Stephen Pugh's Vessels of Starfleet - contructive criticism and a very complete list of known Akira-class vessels *[http://starchive.cs.umanitoba.ca/cgi-bin/search.cgi?params=akira Akira-class ships] at The STArchive - all Akira''s seen on or off screen *[http://www.stechoes.com/yards/index.php?title=Akira ''Star Trek Echoes ASDB] - speculative specifications and extrapolated extended information Category:Federation starship classes de:Akira-Klasse es:Clase Akira fr:Classe Akira